Aircraft Control Allocation

Dedication xiii
 
Series Preface xv
 
Glossary xvii
 
About the Companion Website xxiii
 
1 Introduction 1
 
1.1 Redundant Control Effectors 1
 
1.2 Overview 3
 
References 5
 
2 Aircraft Control 6
 
2.1 Flight Dynamics 6
 
2.1.1 Equations of Motion 6
 
2.1.2 Linearized Equations of Motion 10
 
2.2 Control 12
 
2.2.1 General 12
 
2.2.2 Aircraft Control Effectors 13
 
2.2.3 Aircraft Control Inceptors 17
 
2.3 Afterword 18
 
References 19
 
3 Control Laws 20
 
3.1 Flying Qualities 20
 
3.1.1 Requirements 21
 
3.1.2 Control Law Design to Satisfy Flying Qualities Requirements 21
 
3.2 Dynamic-inversion Control Laws 21
 
3.2.1 Basics 21
 
3.2.2 Types of Equations 22
 
3.2.3 The Controlled Equations 23
 
3.2.4 The Kinematic and Complementary Equations 25
 
3.3 Model-following Control Laws 27
 
3.4 'Conventional' Control Laws 27
 
3.5 Afterword 28
 
References 29
 
4 The Problem 30
 
4.1 Control Effectiveness 30
 
4.2 Constraints 31
 
4.3 Control Allocation 31
 
4.3.1 The Control Allocation Problem 32
 
4.4 Afterword 32
 
References 33
 
5 The Geometry of Control Allocation 34
 
5.1 Admissible Controls 34
 
5.1.1 General 34
 
5.1.2 Objects 34
 
5.1.3 Intersection and Union 37
 
5.1.4 Convex Hull 39
 
5.2 Attainable Moments 39
 
5.3 The Two-moment Problem 43
 
5.3.1 Area Calculations 48
 
5.4 The Three-moment Problem 49
 
5.4.1 Determination of Phi3 49
 
5.4.2 Volume Calculations 56
 
5.5 Significance of the Maximum Set 58
 
5.5.1 As a Standard of Comparison of Different Methods 59
 
5.5.2 Maneuver Requirements 60
 
5.5.3 Control Failure Reconfiguration 62
 
5.6 Afterword 62
 
References

Wayne Durham had a full career as a U.S. Navy fighter pilot and test pilot. He is a member of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots. After retiring from the Navy he earned a Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering at Virginia Tech, researching model-following control under the guidance of the late Fred Lutze. He remained at Virginia Tech teaching aerospace engineering and researching aircraft control, including seminal studies of control allocation.
 
After earning his Ph.D. from Virginia Tech, Ken Bordignon spent eight years at for Lockheed Martin working on various Advanced Development Projects, including the Joint Strike Fighter Concept Demonstration Aircraft, the X-35. Since 2008 he has taught at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Arizona.
 
Roger Beck has worked as a support contractor providing flight mechanics, simulation, guidance, navigation, and control support to NASA for a variety of aerospace projects. As part of his graduate work at Virginia Tech, Dr. Beck studied the extension of control allocation techniques to systems with more than three objectives. Working with NASA, he has supported flight tests of a variety of different vehicles including UAV flight systems, atmospheric tests of launch vehicles, hypersonic vehicles, even earth and planetary re-entry systems. In addition to flight projects, Dr. Beck provides analytical support to a variety of conceptual studies ranging ground test infrastructure to space technology demonstration missions. Currently, Dr. Beck is employed by Dynamic Concepts, Incorporated of Huntsville, Alabama, working as part of the Flight Mechanics team for the SLS launch vehicle at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center.